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View health data for your community
Curious about health in and around your community? The new Hillsborough County Health Atlas has you covered simply by clicking on a map! This web-based tool provides planners and communities a baseline profile of chronic disease data, demographics, health care access, food environment, transportation, emergency preparedness, and environmental indicators. Add and compare more than 60 features in the current version of this tool.
A presentation by MPO Executive Director Beth Alden at State Representative Sean Shaw’s November 29 well-attended Minority Transportation Forum
A presentation of the 2017 Great Places in Florida People’s Choice Award to Downtown Pensacola by Brandon Henry, Chair of the American Planning Association’s Florida Young Planners Group, on behalf of APA Florida on November 30
Several staff took a hands-on approach teaching a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning class about the consistency review process on December 1 at the University of South Florida
land use &
comprehensive planning
New officers, a welcome, and a thank you at November Planning Commission meeting
New officers were elected at the November 2017 Planning Commission Meeting. Congratulations to Chair – Derek Doughty, Vice Chair – Jacqueline Wilds, and Member-at-Large – Matthew Buzza! Commissioner Green and Commissioner Michael Maurino (alternate) were elected to represent the Planning Commission on the MPO Board.
A warm welcome was given to our new Planning Commissioner John Dicks, appointed by the City of Plant City. Mr. Dicks served three of his nine years on the City Commission as Mayor of his hometown of Plant City. He brings a wealth of experience as an attorney and businessman who has dedicated many years and much energy to public service and civic involvement.
Outgoing Chair Mitch Thrower presented a plaque of appreciation, as we said thank you to Gary Pike for five years of enthusiastic and dedicated service as a Planning Commissioner representing the City of Plant City. We wish you all the best!
Mitch Thrower appointed to the Planning Accreditation Board
Mitch Thrower was recently appointed by the American Planning Association (APA) as the Public Member to the Planning Accreditation Board(PAB) for a three-year term beginning December 1, 2017. The PAB’s mission is to promote excellence among planning programs and to ensure high quality education for future urban planners through an accreditation process for educational programs leading to bachelors and masters degrees in planning. Accreditation is a means of providing formal recognition that a program measures up to the profession’s high educational standards and is therefore qualified to train its future practitioners.
Mr. Thrower has represented Hillsborough County on the Planning Commission since 2011. During his time on the Commission, he has served in many leadership roles, most-recently serving as Chair for the last three years. He currently works for the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority as their Senior Manager of Administration. Mr. Thrower is active with the national American Planning Association (APA) serving as the Region III representative on the APA Planning Officials Committee. He has received degrees from Tulane and Florida State Universities and is both a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Internal Auditor.
Making the plan amendment process more efficient
The Planning Commission recently conducted an outside evaluation of the efficiency of our plan amendment review process. As part of a class applying the lean Six Sigma techniques, this methodology is a collaborative team effort to improve performance by systematically removing waste and reducing variation. This is the first time in many years that an outside review of how staff processes amendments to the Comprehensive Plan has occurred.
We’d like to give a warm welcome to the newest additions to the MPO Board! Representing the City of Temple Terrace is recently-elected Mayor Mel Jurado; and alternate, Temple Terrace’s new Vice-Mayor David Pogorilich. We bid a fond farewell to longtime HART Board Member Wallace Bowers, and welcome HART Board Member David Mechanik to the MPO.
At the December 5 MPO Board meeting, officer elections were held. MPO Chair, Hillsborough County Commissioner Lesley ‘Les’ Miller, and MPO Vice Chair, City of Tampa Councilman Harry Cohen, were both re-elected to those leadership roles. City of Tampa Councilman Luis Viera will now assume a new role as Chair of the Transportation Disadvantaged Coordinating Board.
BPAC volunteers participate in national forum, bring back ideas
In November, the MPO sponsored Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee Chair Patrick Thorpe and Vice-Chair Tony Monk to participate in a national discussion about MPOs creating healthy and prosperous communities. Organized by Transportation for America and the American Public Health Association, the forum explored how planners prioritize transportation projects that promote choices, community health, and economic vitality. Locally, collaborations are taking place with the Hillsborough MPO, Planning Commission, and the Florida Department of Health.
An early collaboration of the MPO and School District was a high school student video contest to inspire walking and biking safely to school through peer-to-peer messaging. The resulting videos were amazing, and we’ve recently learned more good news! The impactful winning video, submitted by Blake High School’s Ethan Huggins and Zuriel Cousin on crosswalk/pedestrian safety, won a national Award of Recognition in the “Best Shorts Competition” over the summer. Congratulations to these budding filmmakers!
Read more about the study identifying ‘Top Ten’ school transportation safety priorities
hillsborough river planning
APA Florida Sun Coast Section takes Hillsborough River tour
On December 1, Planning Commissioner Karen Kress and Hillsborough River Interlocal Planning Board Executive Director Shawn College joined City of Tampa staff as featured speakers on the APA Florida Sun Coast Section’s Hillsborough River tour. Information about river planning coordination, future projects, and ongoing initiatives was shared with a group of area planners, students, and allied professionals. Mr. College discussed the mission and work of the River Board; living shoreline and restoration projects; the Hillsborough River’s Minimum Flow; and watercraft speed zones. Representing the Tampa Downtown Partnership, Commissioner Kress described existing and future development along the river in Downtown.
Hillsborough planners scrap reversible lanes to ease Brandon traffic | News Channel 8 | 11.13.17 Note: The article incorrectly identifies Melissa Zornitta as MPO Director. Ms. Zornitta is the Executive Director of the Planning Commission. The Brandon study was jointly funded by the Planning Commission and MPO.
Plan Hillsborough provides value-added planning services through a diverse team of professionals working towards a thriving future for Tampa, Temple Terrace, Plant City, and Hillsborough County, and provides staff to the:
Promotes, coordinates, collaborates with, and facilitates the involvement of all people in comprehensive planning and visioning to improve economic development opportunities and quality
of life in our community
A long-range transportation policy-making board made up of local government and transportation agency representatives planning for more than $1.5 billion
in state and federally funded multi-modal transportation investments in the first 5 years of each 20+ year plan
Responsible for promoting collaborative planning, regulation, and development along the river corridor while ensuring the environmental health of the river running through Hillsborough County and the cities of Tampa and Temple Terrace
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